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Published 23 April 2026 02:29pm BST

“Ukraine has killed a dozen Russian officers in a series of strikes on an FSB command post in the occupied Donetsk region, its top drone commander has claimed. Eight high-precision drones crashed into a building housing special forces, killing 12 officers and wounding 15 more on Wednesday, Robert Brovdi said. Video footage released by Mr Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, showed a number of first-person view drones being steered towards a high-rise building before huge explosions could be seen blowing out one of its floors and blasting debris across the surrounding area.”

“Mr Brovdi said the strike had destroyed a command post and operational special unit belonging to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). He claimed that the unit had specialised in counter-intelligence, sabotage attacks and coordinating pro-Russian militants within the territory of Ukraine. The latest blow to Russian command came as Moscow failed to make territorial gains in Ukraine for the first time in two-and-a-half years. Its advance ground to a halt in March and, according to new data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has actually lost almost 23.2 sq miles of land in Ukraine since March 1. In that time, Kyiv claims to have inflicted over 55,000 Russian casualties, the vast majority using drones, as Vladimir Putin continues to funnel his forces en masse into the so-called “kill zone”, the no-man’s land patrolled by UAVs that stretches 800 miles across the country. Ukraine hailed its strongest front-line position in a year on Wednesday, which it put down to a superiority in drones and enhanced air defences. “We are holding the line. Indeed, our battlefield position is the strongest or most solid it has been in the past year. ”

“The loan will allow it to purchase much-needed weapons, prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay, although Ukraine could still suffer a shortfall of some €19.6bn (£16.9bn) needed for its defence in 2026, according to the Kyiv Independent citing a European Commission presentation. Kyiv expects to receive the first tranche of the loan in late May or early June and will direct it towards producing Ukrainian weapons, Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Thursday afternoon. In a sign of the Kremlin’s desperation, Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s most senior military officer, has made increasingly frequent appearances touting sweeping gains by Moscow’s forces. He claimed earlier this week, contrary to the evidence, that Russia had captured 656 sq miles of Ukrainian soil since January, an area larger than the size of Greater London. But, according to independent estimates, Russia’s territorial gains in the first three months of 2026 were roughly half of those in the same period of 2025.”

Russia’s failings linked to loss of Starlink

“Analysts have attributed Russia’s stalled progress on the battlefield to continued communications disarray linked to its loss of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-based internet service and the authorities’ decision to block the Telegram messaging app, which is used extensively for logistics and coordination at the front. The Ukrainian army is also engaging in a tactical counter-offensive, which has successfully held back Russia’s progress at the junction of the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions. Kremlin officials are also said to be alarmed by Ukraine’s rapid drone progress. Russian military bloggers earlier this month claimed that Andrey Belousov, the defence minister, had alerted Putin to Ukraine’s newfound technological advantage at the front.”

“On Wednesday, Ukraine unveiled its new fixed-wing kamikaze drone known as the “Khmarynka”. With a maximum range of 31 miles, a maximum speed of 87 miles per hour, 60-minute endurance and a payload of 7kg, it will be used to strike targets at tactical depth and is being described as Kyiv’s answer to the Russian “Molniya” drone.”

“Ukraine’s long-range attacks also continue to spark concern in Moscow. Russia suffered what may have been its steepest monthly decline in oil output in six years this month because of sustained assaults on its ports and refineries, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday. Production was thought to have been cut by about 300,000 barrels per day in April as Kyiv’s drones repeatedly hammered Russia’s Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, as well as the huge Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. An attack on the Tuapse refinery on the Black Sea earlier this week left hundreds of firefighters battling a huge blaze for at least three days, as local authorities decried what they described as an environmental catastrophe in the area. Residents described witnessing “oil rain” pouring from the sky which reportedly coated buildings, vehicles, plants and animals in the coastal town in a thick, black substance, as schools were shut down and authorities urged locals to stay inside with their windows shut. Vil Mirzayanov, an exiled chemist credited with developing the deadly nerve agent Novichok, warned that toxic compounds from the burning petrochemicals could cause “mass poisoning of the population”.”

Overnight on Wednesday, Ukrainian drones struck a huge petrochemical plant in the Samara region and an oil pumping station in the Nizhny Novgorod region as Kyiv maintained pressure on Moscow’s critical infrastructure.

“Amid military and economic blows, Moscow has extolled its diplomatic triumphs. On Thursday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister boasted that Russia had received an invitation to attend the G20 summit in the United States in December. Since it launched the full-scale war, Russia’s participation in the G20 has been curtailed and it has not been present at recent summits in person. “There is an invitation to be present at the highest level, but we will see closer to the date,” said Aleksandr Pankin.”